A Life in Music
Cheryl Cellon Lindquist is a pianist, collaborative artist, and recording artist whose career has been shaped by versatility, connection, and a lifelong love of making music with and for others.
An accomplished and deeply experienced pianist, Cheryl has performed throughout the United States and abroad in solo concerts, collaborations, opera, recording projects, and guest artist engagements. Her work has brought her alongside distinguished singers, instrumentalists, conductors, ensembles, universities, opera companies, festivals, churches, and concert presenters in a wide variety of settings.
At the piano, Cheryl is known for sensitivity, instinct, warmth, and an ability to listen and respond in the moment. Classically trained and equally comfortable playing by ear, she moves naturally among classical repertoire, art song and opera, sacred music, contemporary and popular styles, improvisation, original compositions, and her own arrangements. She approaches music as a living conversation—something meant to connect, communicate, and create a shared experience.
Recording has become an important part of Cheryl’s artistic life. Her projects include Reflections of the Soul, Reflections of the Spirit, and Whispers Under the Ancient Oak, with new original music, arrangements, and collaborative projects continuing to take shape.
A deep sense of faith, gratitude, and purpose quietly underlies Cheryl’s work. She considers music both a gift and a responsibility, and values the opportunities it has given her to create beauty, encourage others, and build meaningful connections.
Her work with singers and young artists through coaching, masterclasses, and residencies grows naturally from that same musical life. Across performance, collaboration, recording, teaching, creating, and touring, the piano remains at the center—where Cheryl feels most at home and where she continues to discover new stories to tell.
Every Note Tells a Story.
Performance has always been central to Cheryl’s life in music. An accomplished and deeply experienced pianist, she has appeared in solo, chamber, operatic, and collaborative settings, sharing the stage with artists including René Barbera, Tituss Burgess, Andrew Garland, Larry Gatlin, Rainelle Krause, Megan Marino, Reginald Mobley, Ann Moss, Eric Owens, Marcìa Porter, Suzanne Ramo, George Strait, and Tracy Thomas. Her work has also brought her into collaboration with composers Michael Ching, Juliana Hall, John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, and Tobias Picker.
Her career has taken her to Fort Worth Opera, Opera San Antonio, Austin Lyric Opera, the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS), SongFest, the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice, Opera Steamboat, and the Taos Opera Institute in Taos, New Mexico.
Whether performing alone at the piano or in collaboration with another artist, Cheryl brings refinement, intuition, warmth, and an acute sense of musical partnership to every setting. Her approach is grounded in preparation and experience, yet remains open to the spontaneity of the moment—to the subtle exchange between artists, the character of the music, and the presence of the audience. For Cheryl, the most meaningful performances are those in which technique, instinct, and imagination come together to create something both personal and shared.
Performance and Collaboration
Coaching, Teaching & Mentorship
Teaching and mentorship have played a meaningful role in Cheryl’s musical journey, growing seamlessly out of her work as a pianist and collaborative artist. She has worked with students and emerging artists in university, festival, and young artist program settings, including Texas State University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of the Incarnate Word, the University of Texas–Pan American, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, the University of Florida, the Taos Opera Institute, Opera Steamboat, SongFest, and the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS).
Her work with young artists is grounded in the same principles that shape her own music-making: listening deeply, responding in the moment, understanding the story behind the music, and allowing technique to serve communication. Drawing on years of performance and collaboration, Cheryl encourages artists to trust their instincts, discover their individual voice, and perform with greater confidence, freedom, and purpose.
Cheryl’s formal musical training reflects the breadth of her artistic life. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of South Alabama, a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Florida, and both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Music in Collaborative Piano from Florida State University.
Sacred Music & the Arts
Church music has been part of Cheryl's musical life from the beginning. Over the years, she has served churches as pianist, organist, conductor, and music leader, experiences that have shaped both her musicianship and her understanding of what it means to make music in community.
That work has given her a deep appreciation for the traditions, repertoire, and relationships that grow from making music together. It remains an important part of her musical story and continues to inform the warmth, generosity, and sense of connection she brings to her work as a pianist and artist.
For Programs, Press & Presenters
Biographical and program materials for presenters, universities, churches, arts organizations, collaborators, and media.
Compositions & Arrangements
Alongside my work as a pianist and performer, I also enjoy creating original compositions and arrangements for solo piano, voice, choir, and other musical settings.